Policy think tank, CUTS International, Accra is worried about Ghana’s deteriorating public sector customer service delivery, a situation it says is frustrating citizens and undermining trust in government institutions.
The organisation in a statement urged the government and all public agencies to “retool and reset their approach to customer service delivery” to meet the evolving needs of citizens and businesses.
According to a recent CUTS survey, the public sector continues to perform poorly compared to private organisations when it comes to client engagement and responsiveness.
“Customer service is not only about smiles and greetings, it is about responsiveness, efficiency, and accountability,” Appiah Kusi Adomako, West Africa Director of CUTS International, Accra said.
“Every citizen and business that engages a government agency is a customer, and they deserve the same level of respect and service quality expected from the private sector.”
Mr. Adomako lamented that despite Ghana’s investments in public sector reforms and digital initiatives, service delivery remains largely inefficient.
“Telephone lines listed on most MMDAs’ websites are out of order, and if you manage to get your call through the functional ones, no one will answer your call. Some agencies do not accept electronic filing,” he noted, adding that “now it appears the only place where electronic filing works is the payment of taxes to the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).”
CUTS described this as a “defeat of the purpose of digitization” and evidence of weak institutional discipline.
The think tank also cited several systemic issues, including the failure of many agencies to respond to emails or online submissions, in breach of the Electronic Transactions Act, and the continued insistence on paper-based processes.
The organisation further condemned the practice of public officers requesting citizens to send official documents to personal email accounts such as Gmail or Yahoo, calling it “unprofessional and a risk to data security.”
CUTS International is urging government ministries, departments, and agencies to embark on what it terms a “Public Sector Service Reset” – a deliberate reorientation of attitudes, systems, and accountability frameworks around customer service excellence.
This reset, according to the group, should be anchored on capacity building, technology integration, and stronger feedback mechanisms.
“When citizens or investors cannot get timely responses from public agencies, they lose confidence in government institutions. This directly affects service uptake, tax compliance, and investment decisions. Good governance begins with good service delivery,” Mr. Adomako stressed.
CUTS emphasised that public service delivery must be seen as a contract between the state and its citizens, insisting that Ghanaians are not “subjects to be managed but customers whose taxes fund government operations.”
“Customer service is at the heart of democratic governance. When people cannot get answers, when complaints go unanswered, when institutions hide behind bureaucracy, trust in government weakens. Rebuilding that trust begins with listening and responding,” Mr. Adomako added.
The think tank has therefore called on President John Dramani Mahama to demonstrate policy leadership by making customer service delivery a core metric in evaluating the performance of Chief Directors and Heads of Agencies.
CUTS International also urged every public servant to reflect on their role in shaping citizens’ perception of government.
“Every unanswered email, every ignored complaint, and every unnecessary delay has a human cost: lost time, lost trust, and lost opportunities,” the statement said.
Mr. Adomako called for a renewed commitment to excellence in public service.
“Ghana’s aspiration to build an efficient, accountable, and citizen-responsive public sector cannot be achieved without a cultural shift in how we treat our citizens. Let’s take advantage of the government’s reset agenda to retool, retrain, and reset the public service to put the citizen first.”
